Renovating Assessment Practices Lisa Miller February, 2013
Or…
This Time It’s All About Me!
The Foundation Does shifting to an electronic submission format for written assignments decrease my marking load and thus increase my job satisfaction ?
The Building Blocks “…[W]e teach who we are”…but at what price?
Redesigning My Approach electronic submissions via (Word) o track changes o memo function storing, processing, and returning files o subfolders for each grade o red-flag vs. check mark o FirstnameAssignmentname.docx
Cracks in the Foundation? red vs. green MS Word vs. Open Office
Reframing My Assessment Practice In general, do my students read the comments I put on their papers? 90% of my grade 12s and 96% of grade 11s “usually” or “always” do this my dilemma: successful student revisions require very specific written feedback… but very specific written feedback takes a great deal of time, negating my attempts to decrease my work load
Will students find the responses I give via “track changes” and the “memo” function in Word as helpful as my handwritten version? 67% of my grade 12s found the electronic feedback more helpful than the handwritten feedback 57% of my grade 11s found this to be the case
Will the number of students submitting assignments electronically increase over the semester? 74% of my 12s thought they would try electronic submission 91% actually did it… 58% of my 11s thought they would try electronic submission 79% actually did it…
The Inspection
Program Capacities… Being a Strategic Teacher The goal: to achieve a better balance between my professional and private life The tool: redesigning my assessment practice in a way that allowed me to retain the frequency and depth of my responses
Being a Creative and Adaptive Educator The Challenge: to develop a valid method of assessment more likely to appeal to today’s tech-savvy students The Result: a strategy that both satisfies my personal expectations regarding quality assessment and makes me a more efficient marker
Being a Reflexive Educator The Question: Can I still be an effective English teacher if I alter the way in which I assess my students’ writing? The Answer: Yes!
Form + Function = Balance